🇧🇩 Bangladesh

The Maurya Empire extended imperial administration over the territory of modern Bangladesh. Its decline gave rise to the kingdom of Samatata, a tributary of the Gupta Empire.

The Pala Empire governed Bengal for four centuries, patronising Buddhism and building monuments such as the Somapura Mahavihara. Its overthrow by the Hindu Sena dynasty preceded the Muslim conquest.

Muslim conversions and settlement in the region now referred to as Bangladesh began in the 10th century, carried primarily by Arab and Persian traders and preachers.

The Ghurid commander Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji defeated the Hindu Sena dynasty and brought the region under Muslim rule. Bengal was subsequently incorporated into the Delhi Sultanate, beginning centuries of Islamic governance that reshaped the region's religion, law and architecture.

Bengal broke away from the Delhi Sultanate to form an independent sultanate ruled successively by the Ilyas Shahi and Hussain Shahi dynasties. Its geographic expansion and prosperity led European and Chinese visitors to call it the richest country to trade with.

The title gave official currency to the name Bangala, from which Bangladesh derives. The term had earlier appeared on the Nesari plate of 805 and gained official status during the fourteenth-century Sultanate.

Europeans began establishing trading posts in the area in the 16th century, with the Portuguese followed by the Dutch, French and British.

Mughal conquest ended the independent Bengal Sultanate and incorporated the region as the Bengal Subah. By the eighteenth century it was among the wealthiest provinces of the empire, a major global exporter of muslin, silk and ships.

With the decline of Mughal central power after 1700, Bengal became effectively autonomous under its nawabs. This semi-independent regime governed one of the richest economies in Asia until the British conquest four decades later.

The Company's victory established colonial British rule over Bengal and opened the wider Indian subcontinent to conquest. Bengal's economy was tied to the Industrial Revolution at the cost of extraordinary capital flight, deindustrialisation and the collapse of its textile industry.

Estimates of deaths range from one to ten million, up to one-third of the Bengal Presidency's population. The famine exemplified the human cost of colonial extraction and was the first of repeated deadly famines in the region.

Dhaka College is among the oldest educational institutions in the Indian subcontinent. It anchored modern higher education in eastern Bengal decades before university provision arrived.

The founding of a printing press in Dhaka marks the beginning of the recorded history of the press in Bangladesh. It created the infrastructure for Bengali-language journalism and public debate.

The University of Dhaka became the oldest public university in what is now Bangladesh. It later served as an intellectual centre of the Bengali language movement and of national politics.

The partition of British India in August 1947 drew the Radcliffe Line through Bengal, placing the Muslim-majority eastern wing — previously part of a Bengal that was primarily Hindu in the west and mostly Muslim in the east — into the new Dominion of Pakistan as East Bengal, later East Pakistan, its most populous wing. The two wings were separated by over 1,000 miles, a geographic split that became the root cause of deep economic inequality; calls for greater autonomy and animosity between the eastern and western wings later fuelled the Bengali independence movement.

The new party gave organised expression to Bengali political grievances within Pakistan. Renamed the secular Awami League in 1953, it went on to lead the independence movement and dominate post-independence politics.

The Assembly abolished the Permanent Settlement and the zamindari landlord system inherited from colonial rule. This restructured rural property relations and removed an entrenched landholding class.

The movement demanded recognition of Bengali as an official language of Pakistan; the brutal crackdown created martyrs commemorated each 21 February. It decisively spurred Bengali nationalism and pro-democracy politics, and UNESCO later declared the date International Mother Language Day.

The landslide victory demonstrated the collapse of Muslim League authority in the eastern wing. The first constituent assembly was dissolved the same year, deepening constitutional instability in Pakistan.

Under the One Unit Scheme the province became East Pakistan, and it was drawn into the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. The renaming subsumed Bengali identity within a unified Pakistani state structure.

The coup ended parliamentary politics and established Ayub Khan's dictatorship for over a decade. Military rule intensified Bengali under-representation in civil and military services and fuelled separatist sentiment.

The 1962 constitution replaced the parliamentary system with presidential and gubernatorial rule based on electoral college selection. In the same year Dhaka became the seat of Pakistan's National Assembly, a move seen as appeasing Bengali nationalism.

The Awami League leader's programme demanded autonomy for East Pakistan within a federal structure. It became the platform of Bengali nationalism and led to Mujib's arrest for treason in the Agartala Conspiracy Case.

The mass uprising secured Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's release from the Agartala Conspiracy Case. General Yahya Khan assumed power and reintroduced martial law, setting the stage for confrontation.

The storm struck the coast of what was then East Pakistan on 12 November 1970, and the central government's slow, inadequate relief response became a major grievance fuelling the nationalist movement that led to independence the following year. The exact death toll has never been confirmed.

Zia promoted a regional grouping to institutionalise cooperation among South Asian states. The initiative gave Bangladesh an early diplomatic role as a convener in its region.

At a mass public rally Bhashani declared East Pakistan independent, though the declaration was not officially recognised. It signalled that Bengali politics had moved beyond autonomy towards secession.

The landslide gave the Bengali-nationalist party a claim to form Pakistan's government and write a new constitution. The military and Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party refused to accept the result, precipitating the crisis of 1971.

Following Mujib's 7 March speech and the ensuing non-cooperation movement, the army began a violent crackdown on 25 March 1971. Mujib was arrested the next day and Major Ziaur Rahman broadcast the independence of Bangladesh on his behalf.

Pakistani forces surrendered in Dhaka on 16 December 1971 after a war marked by widespread violence against civilians; estimates of the death toll vary widely and no official figure has been agreed. India intervened militarily in the war's final weeks in support of Bangladeshi forces.

Membership of the Commonwealth was among the new state's first steps into international society. It was followed by admission to the United Nations and the OIC in 1974.

The constitution was adopted on 4 November 1972, less than a year after independence. It established the legal framework of the republic, including the judicial review powers later grounded in Article 111.

Famine struck during a period of lawlessness, alleged corruption and mismanagement under the Mujib government. Combined with moves towards one-party socialism, it caused a steep decline in Mujib's popularity.

Admission to the UN and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation consolidated the country's international recognition. Bangladesh also became a founding member of the Developing-8.

The 15 August 1975 killings ended four years of rule by the Liberation War leader and were followed by over two decades of military and quasi-military government. Two of Mujib's daughters, including Sheikh Hasina, survived as they were abroad at the time.

Indigenous groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts fought a long insurgency for autonomy. A peace accord was signed in 1997, though the region remains militarised.

Zia established the BNP as a vehicle for his rule and a durable counterweight to the Awami League. The party became one of the two poles of national politics for the following decades.

Rahman, a Liberation War veteran who seized power in 1975 and founded the BNP, was shot dead before dawn on 30 May 1981 while visiting Chittagong to mediate a party dispute. The coup was suppressed within days and its leaders later executed.

The declaration altered the secular character of the 1972 constitutional settlement. It remains a defining feature of the country's constitutional identity.

With the help of international development assistance, Bangladesh made great progress in food security since independence, and the economy grew at an average of about 6 per cent over two decades.

Popular protest ended nearly a decade of military rule. It paved the way for the restoration of parliamentary democracy the following year.

Liberalisation from the early 1990s drove rapid growth, led by a textile industry that became the world's second largest. Bangladesh became the second-largest economy in South Asia and surpassed India's nominal GDP per capita from 2018.

The central bank's monetary policy committee said the cut, effective from 2 August 2026, aimed to support growth and private credit after nearly two years of unchanged rates. Inflation had eased to 9.16 per cent in June but remained above the bank's 7 per cent target.

Speaking by video link on 5 August 2026, the former prime minister said she intended to return by December, despite being sentenced to death in absentia in November 2025. The foreign ministry called the appearance an affront to sovereignty, coming on the second anniversary of the July uprising.

Torrential monsoon rain from 10 July 2026 caused flooding and landslides in Chattogram, Cox's Bazar and neighbouring districts, with Rohingya refugee camps among the worst affected. The army was deployed under an aid-to-civil-power order to conduct search, rescue and relief operations.

The 22–26 June 2026 visit, Rahman's first foreign trip as prime minister, produced a joint communiqué on elevating the two countries' partnership and covered trade, investment and connectivity. It followed a period of strained relations with neighbouring India.

Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and IMF Deputy Managing Director Nigel Clarke reached the understanding in May 2026, after Dhaka exited its previous $5.5 billion programme. Formal negotiations on a new package worth around $4.5 billion were expected to begin after October.

The 28 April 2026 loading of 163 fuel assemblies at the Russian-built plant marked a step towards the country's first nuclear-generated electricity, expected to reach the grid by August. The plant is expected eventually to meet 10 to 12 per cent of national electricity demand.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party returned to power following the 2026 general election, with its chairman sworn in on 17 February 2026. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami became the main opposition party, reshaping the post-Hasina party system.

The 9 February 2026 deal, signed days before the election by the outgoing interim government, committed Bangladesh to buying 14 Boeing aircraft and around $15 billion of American liquefied natural gas over 15 years. Critics called the terms rushed and unequal, negotiated with limited parliamentary oversight.

The 12 February 2026 poll was Bangladesh's first election since the 2024 uprising; a BNP-led alliance won 212 of 297 declared seats while 60.26 per cent backed the referendum on a turnout of 59.88 per cent. Jamaat-e-Islami finished second, becoming the main opposition.

The BNP chairman, son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, had left the country in 2008 citing politically motivated persecution. His 25 December 2025 return came weeks before the BNP's victory in the February 2026 general election.

The 17 November 2025 verdict also convicted former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, sentenced likewise to death, while ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun received five years after turning prosecution witness. The crackdown was estimated to have killed 1,400 people and injured more than 20,000.

Weeks of student-led demonstrations against civil-service job quotas grew into a broader revolt against Sheikh Hasina's authoritarian government after a deadly police crackdown; in this July Uprising she resigned and fled to India on 5 August 2024, ending fifteen years in power. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in days later as Chief Adviser of an interim government pending fresh elections.

The widely criticised Digital Security Act was replaced amid concerns over press and online freedom. Bangladesh remained ranked 152nd of 180 on the 2026 World Press Freedom Index.

Despite constant load-shedding, the government stopped buying spot-price LNG because of a steep rise in world prices. Purchases resumed in February 2023 as prices eased, exposing the energy system's import dependence.

Poverty fell from 80 per cent at independence in 1971 to 44.2 per cent in 1991 and 18.7 per cent in 2022. Human Development Index growth in the twenty-first century was surpassed only by China.

The 2022 census counted 169.8 million people across 506 urban centres, making Bangladesh the most densely populated large country in the world. Total fertility had fallen to 1.9, below replacement level, from 5.5 in 1985.

A country experiencing several daily blackouts in 2009 reached universal electricity access by 2022. Generation capacity rose from 5 gigawatts in 2009 to 25.5 gigawatts, with a target of 50 gigawatts by 2041.

Washington sanctioned commanders of the elite police unit for extrajudicial killings, torture and other abuses. The move marked a significant deterioration in relations with a major trading partner.

The satellite lifted off from Florida on 11 May 2018, giving Bangladesh independent satellite broadcasting and telecommunications capacity for the first time. It was named after the country's founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Beginning on 25 August 2017, mass violence forced Rohingya Muslims across the border into Cox's Bazar, which grew into the world's largest refugee settlement. Around 1.2 million Rohingya remain in Bangladesh, with repatriation to Myanmar still unresolved.

In January 2014 the Awami League won an overwhelming majority after the Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotted the poll, extending Sheikh Hasina's term as prime minister.

Hasina secured second, third and fourth consecutive terms in 2014, 2018 and 2024. All three votes were criticised by opposition parties and outside observers over boycotts, violence and restrictions on political competition.

The law was Bangladesh's first dedicated anti-torture statute, fifteen years after joining the UN Convention against Torture. The first conviction under it was announced in 2020.

The 24 April 2013 collapse, after cracks had been ignored the previous day, injured about 2,500 more people and prompted international safety accords covering thousands of Bangladeshi factories. It remains the country's worst industrial disaster.

The caretaker government returned the country to democracy in December 2008 with the election of the Awami League and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The court gave citizenship to Urdu-speaking stranded Pakistanis, resolving a status left unsettled since 1971. It ended decades of statelessness for a distinct minority community.

Floods displaced five million people and killed around 500. The scale of displacement reinforced the case for long-term delta planning.

The Commission was established as a statutory human rights watchdog. Its creation coincided with the 2006–2008 political crisis and preceded sustained international criticism of extrajudicial killings.

An emergency caretaker regime suspended the parliamentary elections planned for January 2007 in an effort to reform the political system and root out corruption.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited their contribution to economic and social development from below through small, collateral-free loans. The Grameen Bank model, founded in the 1970s, was later replicated by microfinance schemes worldwide.

The Commission was created as a dedicated anti-graft body and was notably active during the 2006–2008 political crisis, indicting leading politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen. Corruption nonetheless remained severe, with the country ranked 146th of 180 in 2018.

The agreement institutionalised military ties with China. It became a central pillar of Bangladesh's defence procurement and strategic alignment.

The plan was launched to address projected sea level rise, with a three-foot rise expected to inundate 20 per cent of the land and displace over 30 million people by 2050. It represents the state's long-horizon adaptation strategy for a low-lying delta.

The designation internationalised the memory of the 1952 Bengali language movement martyrs. It gave Bangladesh a distinctive cultural standing in global heritage.

Two-thirds of the country went underwater and around 1,000 people died. The disaster underlined the delta's extreme exposure to riverine flooding.

Accession committed the state to international anti-torture standards, though domestic legislation followed only in 2013 with the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act. The first conviction under that law came in 2020.

Legislation set aside three of twelve seats in every union for women. It extended a pattern of reserved representation also seen in the national parliament's 50 women's seats.

The Act created the statutory basis for environmental regulation in Bangladesh. It complemented the country's new international biodiversity obligations.

Ratification on 3 May 1994 bound the country to international biodiversity commitments. It was followed by the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act in 1995 and later national biodiversity planning.

The 1991 cyclone was among the deadliest in the country's history, following the catastrophic 1970 storm. Such disasters drove long-term investment in cyclone preparedness in a country where 17 per cent of Bay of Bengal cyclones make landfall.

Ershad resigned in December 1990 after a mass uprising ended nine years of authoritarian rule; the 27 February 1991 election brought Khaleda Zia to power as the country's first female prime minister. It marked the return of civilian, multi-party government.